Monday night's Advisory Board meeting for Parks and Recreation went somewhat predictably but certainly afforded us the opportunity to be more clearly heard. Two dozen of us showed up and filled all the audience seating available in the Lucy Simms gym. At the end of the meeting was the time allotted for public comment. The Board and Parks and Rec staff were anticipating our presence, which shows how powerful this petition has been in this process! 

Each person took a turn describing why they believed the City needed to change course and consult with the community that a new skatepark would serve. Every single skater or bmx rider recommended we make the move to a concrete skatepark at Westover within the current budget. There was plenty of talk about where the process went wrong or was not done properly, but we believe that everyone agreed that we could potentially put these aspects behind us and focus on where we can go from this point to use these public funds to do a lot of public good in the community, especially for the skateboard community!

Brian Mancini was charged with discussing a breach of contract with City Attorney, Chris Brown as soon as possible. We charged ourselves with finding more comparable projects done in concrete to show the feasibility and superiority of a concrete skate park over one with metal ramps. Furthermore, Brian agreed to look into stopping the construction on the park altogether as best he could; considering that the following day there would likely be some aspects that wouldn't be able to be stopped given the timeline. 

While there were some frustrating points in the meeting and our ability to fully express ourselves in the context of the meeting was challenging, we did feel like our preferences and the informed reasons behind them were heard, especially by the Parks and Rec Advisory Board and for that we are very grateful. Thank you to everyone that signed this petition and shared it. Keep sharing it and lets get to 1000 signatures! We have to dream that a concrete park is not only possible but coming to Westover soon!